‘The Walking Dead’: “Claimed” Recap

Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead continued to follow the formula of showing only a few characters at a time. This week we followed Rick, Carl, Michonne, Glenn, Tara, and the new group of survivors. Fans of the comics knew exactly who they were, but were the new survivors were introduced to the audience as Abraham, Rosita, and Eugene. They are traveling to Washington D.C. because Eugene is a “scientist” and he is going to “save the world.” I think it’s safe to put those in quotes because you cannot trust a man with a mullet. Especially one that claims to be a scientist.

Michonne asks Rick what their plans are- whether they are going to stay in the house or continue to travel. Rick doesn’t have a clue, so he just makes her take Carl scavenging while he takes a nap. Rick is woken up by a group of strange men that have broken into the house. Since he is still weak from being beaten by The Governor, he hides under the bed. Things get awkward when a man walks into the room and decides to take a nap. Then things get really awkward when another guy comes in and demands to have the bed. Then things get super awkward when that guy chokes the other guy just to have the bed. He sees Rick hiding under the bed before he’s choked to sleep. Rick slips out under the bed while the both men are sleeping/passed out.

Rick tries to escape through a window, but cannot open one because he doesn’t realize that windows have locks. What is it with the Grimes men and not knowing how to open windows? Anyway, he quickly runs into the bathroom where things get really super awkward because some guy is sitting on the toilet. Like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, Rick kills the toilet guy. There, Rick finally opens a window and then escapes through the window. The toilet guy turns just in time to distract the group before Carl and Michonne come back from scavenging. They then leave the house behind, and find out about the safe haven called “Terminus”.

We are not specifically told who this group is, but I have a feeling that we will be running into them again. Fans speculate that they are a group from the comics called “The Hunters”. I believe that they are right in that assumption, since we saw Jeff Kobin from Sons of Anarchy as a member of the group. If it had all been unknown actors, they could have been this group of bandits that Rick and Carl run into before they find the Alexandria safe zone.

Glenn continues to pass out and wake up in strange places. This time, he finds himself in the back of an army vehicle with Tara. After she tells him that they passed the bus three hours ago, he freaks out. He starts to walk back to the bus to look for Maggie. Abraham pleads with Glenn to stay with them, because he will most likely die on his way back. They start to fight and attract a little horde of walkers. Eugene breaks up their fight when he starts firing (albeit terribly) at the walkers. After all of the walkers are put down, they see that “Eugenius” shot the gas tank, rendering their military vehicle useless. He tells Abraham that he is smarter than everyone, which leads us to believe that his shot was intentional.

A lot of fans do not like the storytelling of each episode following only a few characters at a time. However, I think a lot of fans are also upset because every other episode is seriously lacking in some Daryl. While I enjoy the flipping back and forth between characters, I can see why a lot find it boring. This season has a lot of building up toward something big. We all just have to sit and wait for that “something big.” As long as it doesn’t take them too long to find each other, I’ll continue to like this method.